Derby Talk

Derby Talk is a forum for Pinewood Derby, Awana Grand Prix, Kub Kar Rally, Shape N Race Derby, Space Derby, Raingutter Regatta and other similar races where a child and an adult work together to create a race vehicle and a lot of fun and memories

How'd your adult car lose to that ice cream sundae, though? Also, are those stick-on tire weights you're using for ballast? I saw some at Harbor Freight and was mulling them as an option for inexpensive, easy-to-add weight.

The check-in process at both races is: registration -> inspection -> photos (left front, right front, right rear, left rear) -> impound. We don't yet have the setup or software to show the photos at the event - they're usually posted a couple days later. This service gives the boys a photographic record of their car, even if they might have forgotten to take a photo of it themselves. And, if a car the following year looks a bit too familiar, they archive is only a click away...

I actually wasn't planning on building a car this year, up until one of the boys in the den (Aaron) showed me the scrap piece from the initial cut on his car. I looked at it and thought: "That looks like a car - but how would one weight it (cheaply)?" About an hour later, "Taildragger" was born - it doesn't actually pop wheelies going down the track, but it certainly comes close. Yes, those are lead stick-on tire weights (about 3 oz total) on the back - I shortened the car enough to keep it within 7". I consider this another one of my "object lesson" cars that I can use to teach the boys by showing an extreme example of a possible performance disadvantage - last year I built "Lil' Bug", a 5 oz car as nearly short as can be made with 1.18" wheels, to show the disadvantage of a short wheelbase.

Time: the set of 4 photos might add about 1-2 minutes to the process, it the photographer is on top of things and the camera is behaving. We also do same-day check-in starting about an hour prior to the race (no overnight impound or anything like that).